Will Hyundai Emerge As World’s Largest Automaker?

Concept cars are starting to make their way away from the car show showrooms and into the sales dealership departments across America. That means two things have to happen: a major government, such as China’s, will have to require greatly increased EV sales; or gas prices will have to rise to the Moon, well past the $4-a-gallon level they hit in the US after the financial crisis, before the oil market tanked last year.

The analogy doesn’t hold up for EVs, however, because we already know that there’s massive market for personal mobility: 18 million in annual sales in the US, 20 million in China, and so on. EVs simply change the propulsion proposition. In sales, that is. According to Motoring Life, Kia’s sales in the Western European market rose nearly 40{c0ab263b3175d981033b17d6eec654a369e659a5af23b80a9510e95dedf16ccb} in 2005.

Meanwhile, we’re in the midst of a deluge of new EV concepts, from Volkswagen, Mercedes, BMW and others ( the only notable holdout is Ferrari ). Even Sergio Marchionne, the Fiat Chrysler Automobile CEO who once begged people to not buy his money losing Fiat 500 EV, could surrender to fashion at some point and roll out an electric-car master plan.

Ford Motor Company holds a 3{c0ab263b3175d981033b17d6eec654a369e659a5af23b80a9510e95dedf16ccb} stake in Mazda , a 12.1{c0ab263b3175d981033b17d6eec654a369e659a5af23b80a9510e95dedf16ccb} share in Aston Martin , a 49{c0ab263b3175d981033b17d6eec654a369e659a5af23b80a9510e95dedf16ccb} share in Jiangling Motors Ford and Navistar International have a 50-50 joint venture called Blue Diamond Truck Ford and Sollers JSC have a 50-50 joint venture called Ford Sollers Both Ford and Koç Holding own a 41{c0ab263b3175d981033b17d6eec654a369e659a5af23b80a9510e95dedf16ccb} stake in Ford Otosan Ford and Lio Ho Group have a joint venture called Ford Lio Ho , Ford owns 70{c0ab263b3175d981033b17d6eec654a369e659a5af23b80a9510e95dedf16ccb} and Lio Ho Group owns 30{c0ab263b3175d981033b17d6eec654a369e659a5af23b80a9510e95dedf16ccb}.

For Tesla Motors ( NASDAQ:TSLA ), China has been a promising market due to the government’s desire to reduce pollution, opening the door for a surge in electric vehicle (EV) demand. And while GM remains the top automaker in the United States, its sales decline 6.5 percent through April compared to a year ago, and it has lost a percentage point of its American market share, which dipped to 22.9 percent. If such a trend continues, since there is no way that Active Brakes Direct could do the trick, it would not take long before foreign automakers become more profitable than Detroit manufacturers. Mazda was well above average in the American Customer Satisfaction Index last year, but significant gains by other automakers has brought up the average to 82. This year, Mazda falls just below the average line, maintaining its score of 80. The automaker this year fell two slots to No. 10, according to Consumer Reports.